Kremlin diplomats not invited to Crew Dragon launch with Russian cosmonaut

The United States has not invited diplomats of the Russian Consulate General in Houston to the launch of the Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) with Russian cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov on board as part of the cross-flight programme.

The remarks were made by Russian Consul General in Houston Alexander Zakharov, TASS reports.

"Now we don't even receive any notifications about the launches from NASA. There is no such thing," he said, answering a related question.

"We are closely cooperating with the Russian mission control team, which is here on a rotational basis, providing the necessary consular assistance. I would like to see much more cooperation with NASA, the Johnson Space Centre," he added.

Borisov will fly as a specialist on SpaceX's seventh Orbiter Crew Change mission as part of its cross-flight programme. The launch is scheduled for August 25.

Along with Borisov, the Crew-7 crew will include NASA astronaut Jasmine Moghbeli, Danish European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa.